The CRTC has announced that it will be holding a public consultation next April to review the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), and is inviting Canadians to submit comments by February 15, 2012.

The tax was implemented in 2009 after intense lobbying from Bell’s CTV Network and Shaw Media’s Global Television network.

While I have dabbled with Over-the-Air (OTA) television for years I never really spent much time exploring it because I was either subscribing to Rogers Cable or Bell ExpressVu (now called Bell Satellite TV) for my television service.

As one of Canada’s first personal video recorder (PVR ) users, I was content for many years to simple call up the cable or satellite company’s Electronic Program guide and press record and watch my shows at a later date.

Over-the-Air (OTA) television signals, sometimes referred to as terrestrial or conventional television signals, are radio waves transmitted from high towers to aerials mounted on homes or to small set top antennas.

While virtually left for dead ten years ago, OTA television has had a renaissance in North America over the last few years after governments in Canada and the United States legislated conventional television broadcasters switch their mode of signal transmission from 1950’s era analog to 21st century digital.

In a surprise decision handed down today, the CRTC has allowed the CBC to continue broadcasting analog television signals in twenty-two markets until August 2012.

The move effectively guts the federal regulators original 2007 decision which would require Canadian television broadcasters to switch their broadcast over-the-air (OTA) television signals from analog to digital by August 31st of this year.

CHCH-TV, Hamilton, Ontario is making the analog to digital transition two weeks ahead of deadline. Rather than waiting for the August 31 deadline, CHCH says it will make the switch today, Monday August 15th, at 9:30 a.m, moving from analog over-the-air transmitters to digital.

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